GRIEVING RAINA LEAVES IPL, CSK CRISIS WORSENS
Raina aborts IPL for personal reason
There seems to be no end to Chennai Super Kings’
IPL-13 misery. After Friday’s Covid-19 shocker, the franchise suffered a double whammy on Saturday when senior batsman Suresh Raina pulled out of the tournament citing personal reasons, and another player — Ruturaj Gaikwad — tested positive. With this, the team’s Covid-19 tally stands at 13, forcing the organisers to put the league fixtures on hold.
Fast bowler Deepak Chahar had tested positive on Friday along with
11 others from the support staff and social media team.
Raina, who returned to India on Saturday morning, hasn’t given any reasons for his IPL exit. However, speculation is rife that the recently retired international cricketer is grieving a family member who passed away unexpectedly. The sudden spurt of
Covid-19 cases in the CSK camp is believed to have added to his mental agony.
Over a dozen Covid-19 positive cases in the Chennai Super Kings camp and a surprise pullout by Suresh Raina have sent shock waves across IPL teams based in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Even though the other teams have settled into their bubbles and begun training, the Covid-19 scare has raised serious doubts about the tournament, scheduled to start on September 19.
The BCCI is yet to announce the fixtures as different health protocols in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have complicated the scheduling issue.
As defending champions, Mumbai Indians were expected to take on Chennai Super Kings in the opener but now that the CSK’s pre-tournament camp is in disarray, BCCI could give them extra time and rework the plan.
A top CSK official said the team is looking to start training by September 5, with those who tested positive expected to rejoin the biobubble later. As many as 13 from CSK have tested positive and all of them have been moved to a different hotel for a twoweek isolation. “All the affected personnel as well as their close contacts are asymptomatic and have been isolated from other team members. They are being monitored by the IPL medical team,” said a BCCI release without mentioning the name of the franchise or players.
FOCUS ON COUNSELLING
As Raina was reportedly ‘worried’ about the growing number of cases within the bubble and dealing with family issues, the
focus of the teams has now shifted to counselling their players.
A few teams, including the Super Kings, are said to have sought help from mental health experts to deal with the situation. “It’s very important to survive in a bio-bubble where players have to cope with Covid-19 fear, isolation and anxiety. We sense that some players are not their usual self with so many restrictions and protocols to follow,” a team official said.
Players have been constantly monitored through a gadget (a fob) which they are supposed to wear all the time.
Apart from that, they have to feed their body temperature and symptoms in a mobile app on a daily basis.
FOREIGN PLAYERS JITTERY
A foreign player who is currently in the CSK biobubble has reportedly raised concerns over the pre-departure conditioning camp in Chennai which is believed to be the source of infection. A net bowler and a member of the social media team had to be left out of the contingent after they tested positive in Chennai.
CSK were the only team to organise a pre-departure conditioning camp for their Indian players at the insistence of Dhoni. The ‘jittery’ foreign player has questioned the decision to hold the camp in a city that witnesses at least 1,000 new positive cases every day.
BHAJJI TO JOIN CSK CAMP ON TUESDAY
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who opted out of CSK’s conditioning camp in Chennai is expected to join the squad on September 1. He had withdrawn from the team’s travel schedule because of personal reasons. Now, Harbhajan will undergo a six-day room quarantine upon arrival in Dubai before joining the squad.